Purple Hyacinths

 And the wind whispers

“When will rain appear?”

When the heart is full of tears

And the soul could not

Contain the storms that's within

nkc~

Memorable Russia -2

 19^th – For our last day in St Petersburg, we went to the Hermitage Museum. This museum holdings include nearly three million items dating from the Stone Age to the present. Among them is one of the world's richest collections of western European painting since the Middle Ages, including many masterpieces from famous artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci. Memang layan la for a person like me who is an art lover. But time didn’t permit me to really enjoy viewing each artifact and collection. We were given only two hours to complete the tour. Mana mau nyaaa..

After lunch we went to St Petersburg airport to catch a flight to our last city, Kazan. The flight took around two hours and once we were there it was dinner time. We had most of our meals at Uzbek, Middle Eastern or Tartar restaurants.  It doesn’t go down so well with our taste buds actually, but nevertheless it was halal and a new experience. Talking about food, basically, we were served salad, bread and soup, potatoes and cheese, and then only the main course which normally would be meat. Layan je laa 

20^th – The next day, we went for a tour of Kazan. But we spent most of our time there in the Tartar’s area because most Muslims live there. Around zohor we went to Kul Sharif mosque which was beautiful both inside and outside. And as usual, we snapped a lot of pics there. And by the mosque, we had our lunch at a Tartar Restaurant. The owner was a Muslim and all the workers too. The girls working there were beautiful and their features as well as their eyes were a sight to behold. Iye, gua cakap luu Minah Tartar memang lawo2.

me n Anna n Kamila

Gua n tour leader @ Mr Tazrik

Kul Sharif Mosque

Then we went to the town center for a bit of shopping and window shopping and sightseeing. At 6, we went to the Kazan train station and boarded the night train to head back to Moscow. The distance between Kazan and Moscow is about 700km. and we were provided with the sleeping berth cabin which was a beautiful mini room, with complimentary drinks and fruits ready. It was quite comfortable to be honest. For each coach, it is double decker, and each floor has five cabins with three separate toilets and a pantry to make coffee. We were entitled to a dinner on board but since the halal status was not known, we had to be content with the fruits available and also the chocolate and snacks we had with us. I slept like a log and woke up half an hour before reaching Moscow. Btw, the ticket price is RM500+-. 

Upon reaching, we went to Holiday Inn to refresh and have breakfast. It was the best breakfast ever in Russia and I had second and third helping.

After checking out, we went to the flea market at Ismaylovo. It is beyond a flea market actually, because you will see hundreds of vendors selling everything from souvenirs, fur, t-shirts, foods to jewelry. Simply put, we were spoilt for choice. But we still managed to buy a few stuffs such as the miniature Vladivostok light house, which resembles the real one, and an Egyptian God, Anubis and few other things.

After a quick dinner, we went to the airport to fly home. The flight was at 11.35pm, which was to my liking. And just like our flight to Moscow, this time too I slept straight away once the plane departed. 

21^st- At 6 am we reached Abu Dhabi. Solat and had breakfast and waited for the connecting back to KL. In the flight back to KL, I watched Young Sheldon after viewing a couple of movies. It was the longest hours spent watching movies in-flight. And finally at 805pm we landed in KLIA. After getting our luggage, we took the erl to Salak Tinggi to get our car. We had roti canai and mee goreng at the same café we had at the initial part of our trip before driving home and arriving safely at 1am.

All in all, I enjoyed this trip very much because of the relaxed pace of the daily itinerary, the beautiful people and places, the not so cold weather, the  comfortable rooms, the wonderful group members and the smooth journey.  Moscow is a modern city with its rich historical values and monuments. It actually dated back to the 12^th century, and as such, its history goes beyond invasions and revolutions. The people are so hassle-free and life here seems to be at an easy going pace. St Petersburg on the other hand, is bustling with crowds and the hustle and bustle is typical of any other European cities. The enormous buildings, the many bridges (342 bridges within the city limits!) and the architecture never fail to impress me. Each city that I visited had a soul of its own. As for Kazan, the capital of Tartastan, it is a Muslim majority city. It looks to me as a rustic place though the city centre is rather lively. It is easier to find halal food here compared to other cities. Even the people here have different features that are quite obvious. To sum up, this trip ranks as one of my favorites. Though to be honest, I really enjoyed all my previous trips a lot too. All good things must come to an end, and as such, I will cherish this trip for a long time. Alhamdulillah.

d kaum

till nx time..

Memorable Russia

     After my wife’s endless persistence, here I am writing about my trip to Russia recently. By right, I should have written all the trips I had gone to these couple of years. But laziness got the better of me. What to do, kann but thinking back, probably there was too much thought to put in words and other affairs got the better of me.

berjemaah

It was the 14^th September and everyone was at home. How happy and thankful I was. That night, after solat berjemaah, we went for dinner at Prime Steak House. Everybody ate to their heart’s content. And later we had ice-cream treat. It felt good to be able to take everyone for dinner and have a quality time with the family. But around 11pm I had to force myself to sleep because I needed to wake within three hours from then. Susah bebeno nk tido nyaa. Well, good luck! 

dinner timeee

At half past 1 am, I was awakened and quickly took my shower. Since everything was already packed in our luggage, I prepared a simple alas perut before my wife and I left the house at 2.30 am. By 5.40 am after a piece of canai n a glass of nescafe kurang manis at a nearby cafe, and parking the Odyssey, we were already at the Salak Tinggi ERL station. We reached KLIA around 6.30 ++ and met up with the rest of the tour members. The flight which was scheduled at around 10.20 was delayed to 11. I just couldn’t wait to board the plane because I felt so sleepy. And true, once I was inside I fell asleep immediately and only woke up an hour before reaching Abu Dhabi for an hour or so layover before catching another plane to Moscow. 

Abu Dhabi

By now I was wide awake and had my meal in the airplane while watching a couple of movies. It was a long flight lasting over 12 hours in total but worth the time. We landed around 7 pm local and met with our Russian tour guide Elana, and a bus waiting outside the airport. It was quite cold outside, and we had our dinner at the hotel’s room which was a pack of nasi with mutton and pita bread and some salad. Sedappp je. Especially so because I gulped down everything with a mug of Nescafe. I guess we were hungry kot. Then it was sleep tight time since we were rather tired and jetlagged from the long flight.  

Moscow Airport

  

First nite dinner!

16^th - The next day, after a fitful sleep, we started late, around 9.30 am, which was to my liking. Unlike the trips I had had before, we would normally leave the hotel latest by 7.30. So it was a welcome change. We went to Red Square, which is famous for the St Basil’s Cathedral. Standing in Red Square, you can see the most significant buildings in the capital: the Kremlin, GUM department store, the State History Museum, Lenin's Mausoleum, and of course, St Basil's Cathedral. We spent like three hours there taking endless photos and having ice-cream at one of the many parlors.

welcome to Moscow!!

After lunch, it was time to visit the Kremlin, which is a citadel that holds four churches, a few palaces and also the official residence for the Russian president. The buildings were all magnificent and dated back hundreds of years ago. Finally we went to the Armoury Chamber which preserves ancient State regalia, ceremonial royal garment and coronation dresses, vestments of the Russian Orthodox Church Hierarchs, the largest collection of gold- and silverware made by Russian craftsmen, West European artistic silver, ceremonial arms and armour, carriages and horse ceremonial, and many more. It is amazing that they have been able to keep everything preserved. We were not allowed to take photos there, but we managed hahaa. Pardon me. By 5pm, everyone was tired and so we went for dinner and headed back to our hotel. 

one of the many beautiful cathederals 

Armoury Chamber

Moscow at dusk

 

17^th- The next morning, we were taken to Moscow Metro. It was underground, probably more than 50 metres deep I guess, (83 metres deep actually) but the design was both extravagant and unique. And it’s clean too. I was amazed with the artwork found on the walls there. And I was told that the escalator that took us down at the Park Pobedy station in the Moscow Metro is 126 meters (413 ft) long and have 740 steps. 

 

It is one of the longest escalators in Europe and the world. Very impressive engineering and craftsmanship, I must say. Later that day, we went to Arbat Street to do a little shopping before having lunch. What fascinated me about these Muscovites is that they are so relaxed, not in a rush to do or go to places. At 5.30pm we boarded a train heading to St Petersburg. The train was supposed to be a bullet train but I found it to be in the same league as the ETS we have back home. Nevertheless it was a comfortable journey. By the time we arrived at St Petersburg it was at 9.30pm but the city centre was still bustling with crowds. St Petersburg looks more hectic compared to Moscow. After dinner, we were taken to our hotel for a well-deserved rest. By the way, both hotels’ rooms in Moscow and St Petersburg are large and comfortable. Even the breakfast had abundant foodstuffs to choose from. But this Cosmo Hotel in St Petersburg is so huge that it has approximately 4000 rooms. Pehh!  

lunch today -

18^th-  The next morning, after breakfast and a 40 minutes bus ride, we reached  the most amazing and most beautiful palace called Peterhof or Summer Palace. It had a spectacular garden in front of the main entrance with a fountain in the middle of it. It was built during the time of Peter, around the 1700, one of the kings of Russia. It was built beside the Gulf of Finland and actually there are a few galleries that hold memorabilia and other mementos received from dignitaries many years ago. The palace was astonishingly beautiful and I was impressed by the luxurious landscape and fountains that face the gulf.

After lunch we went around St Petersburg and prayed at a local mosque there. At night, we were entertained to a royal dinner at the palace of Grand Duke Nikolay, complete with an accompanying pianist, and later we watched a folk show which I must admit was quite entertaining. Seeing the artistes dancing made me feel so vibrant. Albeit the language barrier I was still thrilled to watch a live show here in St Petersburg. That wrapped up our day, and night. 

to be continued..